Thursday, September 15, 2005

Ferguson Is An Old Fool

Just wanted to add my view on Alex (oh, sorry, Sir Alex) Ferguson's comments about the quality of the Champions League as opposed to the World Cup.For those that were fortunate enough to miss it, he said this :"''I think that the Champions League and Premier League in England are of a fantastically high standard. I think people find it hard to remember when the last great World Cup was. I think the Champions League is better than the World Cup. ''It was probably 1986 and that's nearly 20 years ago. When the Champions League began nobody could have envisaged the level it would reach."

Um, sorry, Mr Ferguson, but Champions League football is clearly not superior to the World Cup. The Champions League, in case you hadn't noticed, is played by European football clubs - none of whom can hold a candle to the Brazilian or Argentinian national teams or even the Czech national team, for that matter.

If the club you support isn't in the Champions League, there really isn't much to hold your interest, but every one supports their national side through the World Cup qualifiers and Finals proper.

Like most soccer fans in Europe and every football fan outside it, I couldn't really care less whether Chelsea beats Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final or if Real Madrid loses to Porto, but I do care whether my national team reach the 2006 Finals in Germany. And it is that - more than the quality of football on display in any individual match - that will always mean that the World Cup is better than the Champions League.

The 1986 World Cup Finals was a good one, though, he's right about that, at least. The old fool.